This paper focuses on diplomatic training as a site for exploring the tensions in late colonialism around sovereignty and self-government. Training for the diplomats of soon to be independent states was understood by imperial governments as an ambiguous issue in this period immediately pre-independence: it offered the potential for the former metropole to sustain power and influence within a rapidly changing world, whilst at the same time challenging the very foundations of imperialism by empowering the diplomats of soon to be independent African states. Drawing on archives in France, the UK, and the US, as well as a newly recorded oral history interview with one of the first cohort of Ghanaian trainees, we focus on the development of diplomatic training from ad hoc responses to requests to a more formalised programmes provided by imperial powers and the United States, and tensions and competition between providers and over the content of the courses. We focus primarily on the Gold Coast/Ghana, contextualised within wider experiences of African colonies in both the British and French empires. We demonstrate that training for diplomats provides novel insights into the temporalities, spatialities, and agency that characterised the late colonial state.

Few studies have examined the effects of early-life nutrition interventions on adolescent physical activity (PA). We aimed to examine the long-term effects of small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements (SQ-LNS) on adolescent PA and sedentary behaviour (SB) and to describe current adolescent PA and SB levels in this cohort. In the International Lipid-Based Nutrient Supplements (iLiNS)-DYAD-Ghana trial, 1320 mothers were enrolled and randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (1) daily iron and folic acid during pregnancy and placebo (calcium) from birth to 6 months postpartum (IFA), (2) multiple micronutrient supplements during pregnancy to 6 months postpartum (MMN) or (3) SQ-LNS during pregnancy to 6 months postpartum (LNS). Infants from mothers in the LNS group received SQ-LNS designed for children from 6 to 18 months. We recruited 11–13-year-old adolescents of mothers enrolled in the iLiNS-DYAD-G trial for a 7-d PA and SB assessment using accelerometers (n 305) and self-reported PA and SB (n 508). We compared the LNS with non-LNS (IFA+MMN) groups using ANCOVA models for the following outcomes: mean vector magnitude counts per minute, PAQ-C score and percentage of time in SB, light PA and moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA). There were no significant differences between the LNS and non-LNS groups in any PA outcome in minimally or fully adjusted models. Only approximately 50 % of adolescents met the PA recommendation of 60 min/d MVPA, with males more active than females; however, there is room for improvement. SQ-LNS in early life does not appear to have a sustained impact on PA or SB.

While migration can provide economic opportunities and remittances for rural households, it may also lead to loss of skilled labor and disrupt farm operations. This study examines the impact of rural-urban migration on technical efficiency in Ghana, using robust methodology that combines propensity score matching with a difference-in-differences, selectivity-corrected stochastic frontier model. Analysis is based on panel data from 1,056 farm maize households. Results show that migration significantly improves technical efficiency and maize output. Migration history, farm characteristics, and education shape this relationship. Strengthening extension services and promoting the best farming practices are vital for improving smallholder productivity and efficiency.

Despite coastal regions’ importance and vulnerability to climate change, Ghana’s coasts remain underexplored through social-ecological systems (SES) approaches, with limited attention to Indigenous and local communities’ adaptive responses to contemporary challenges. We conducted a study with the aims of (1) identifying the changes in coastal SES as perceived by the Akplabanya community and (2) examining the Akplabanya community’s human adaptation responses to those changes. During two months of fieldwork in Akplabanya, we used four data collection methods: participant observation, semi-structured interviews, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions. We found social-ecological changes related to five themes: (i) coastal climate change (sea-level rise), (ii) resource change (changes in land use), (iii) agrobiodiversity loss (changes in livestock), (iv) pollution (unsustainable practices) and (v) population change (increasing population). As adaptation responses to these changes, the community adaptive responses we found were (a) place (sense of place), (b) agency (emergence of food markets), (c) Indigenous and local knowledge (weakening of Indigenous knowledge), (d) collective action (collective solutions), (e) institutions (partnerships) and (f) learning (awareness). Our study highlights the urgent need for targeted research in regions like Ghana to guide and improve adaptation policy interventions for scientists, policymakers and researchers.

Rivers act as long-term plastic storage and a pathway for land-based plastic pollution into the ocean. Monitoring river plastic at a global scale remains challenging, with only limited large-scale and long-term monitoring efforts to date. Citizen science approaches may ensure a more continuous basic knowledge of plastic pollution in rivers, which can be used to assess the efficacy of reduction measures. We evaluated the suitability of several river plastic monitoring methods for citizen science, through field monitoring and a subsequent survey with citizen scientists in Accra, Ghana. Four measurement techniques (visual counting, macroplastic net sampling, microplastic net sampling and hydrometric measurements) were tested in the field and evaluated by citizen scientists. The visual counting method, used to estimate floating macroplastic transport, emerged as the most promising method for citizen science–based river plastic monitoring. Using the data collected by citizens, we quantify the variability in transport and concentration of both macroplastic and microplastic.

A local food-based approach, including school lunch with multiple-micronutrient fortified biscuits (MMB) as supplementary snacks, may enhance dietary adequacy, although current evidence remains limited. This study assessed nutrient inadequacies and developed food-based dietary recommendations (FBR) incorporating school lunch from the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) and MMB. Data from 292 girls aged 10–17 years, enrolled in the Ten2Twenty-Ghana study was analysed. Dietary intake was assessed via a quantitative 24-h dietary recall. Usual intakes were estimated using the National Cancer Institute method. Linear programming with Optifood was used to develop FBRs based on commonly consumed foods (≥5% of participants) and their median serving sizes, intake frequency, nutrient content, and cost per 100 g. Constraints included estimated energy needs and harmonised average nutrient requirements. The mean usual energy intake was 2351 (sd 66) kcal/d. Ca (99·8 %), vitamin B12 (99·8 %), riboflavin (96·2 %), vitamin A (91·5 %), vitamin C (87·6 %), Fe (73·7 %), folate (49·3 %) and Zn (8·5 %) inadequacies were prevalent. Optimised diets achieved adequacy for protein and most micronutrients, except Ca and vitamin B12, besides vitamin A for 15–17-year-old girls. School lunch from the GSFP did not enhance micronutrient levels when added to the daily diet. Adding MMB to the daily diet ensured adequacy for vitamin C, riboflavin and Fe, although marginal for Fe. Ca and vitamin A improved substantially with MMB for girls aged 15–17 but remained below the harmonised average requirements. Integrating regular school lunch with specialised fortified foods may be a cost-effective strategy to enhance dietary adequacy for adolescent girls in rural areas.

In the recent case of Ezuame Mannan v Attorney General and Speaker of Parliament,1the Ghanaian Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision struck down the Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), on grounds that the parliamentary processes leading to its enactment were unconstitutional. In arriving at this decision, the court strived to define the limits of Parliament’s legislative powers. While some clarity was achieved, difficult contradictions emerged. Prominent among these was the extent to which the constitutional power of judicial review over legislative actions should interfere with the autonomy of Parliament. In this article, I propose that a proper understanding and application of the purposive approach to interpretation offers an effective tool for reconciling these seemingly conflicting constitutional values.

This article offers the first gendered history of African radio audiences. It uses a comparative approach to demonstrate that colonial development projects in Ghana and Zambia successfully created mass African audiences for radio between the 1930s and 1950s, at a time when most radio sets on the continent were owned by white settlers. However the gendered impact of the projects was uneven. In Zambia the promotion of battery-operated wirelesses inadvertently created a male-dominated audience, while the construction of a wired rediffusion system in Ghana attracted equal numbers of male and female listeners. Ghana’s radio project offers new perspectives on the history of colonial development as a very rare example of a scheme that benefitted women as much as men. Differences in the voice of Ghanaian and Zambian radio also reveal that these early radio schemes had a lasting influence on broadcast content and listening culture in both countries beyond the 1950s.

Drawing on newspaper articles and oral histories, this paper provides an initial sketch of some of the issues at stake within the Ga community in Accra, focusing on the founding of the Ga Shifimo Kpee, a nationalist movement founded at the heart of the first President Kwame Nkrumah’s new capital and the seat of his own power in the new country. Rather than providing a definitive account of the Shifimo Kpee, this article highlights the ways in which foundational published accounts have sometimes inhibited a richer understanding of this period and analyzes primary sources to point to new avenues of interrogation.

The effects of rainfall and temperature on the seasonal phenology of ant nuptial flights in a forest locality in Ghana was studied for 42 months using a light-trap. A total of 204393 ants was caught. Of the 135 species/morphospecies collected, 40 could not be identified beyond genus, and males of a further 14 beyond subfamily. The commonest 65 species/morphospecies flew a mean of 10.1 ± 0.4 months per year. With the exception of males of Dorylus atriceps, Platythyrea conradti, Plat. modesta, Crematogaster nr striatula plus gynes of Plagiolepis brunni and Cr. [F257], whose peak flights occurred in the main dry season, flight activity coincided with the onset of the rainy seasons. Both sexes of Pheidole megacephala, P. speculifera, Tetramorium aculeatum, and Paraparatrechina albipes plus gynes of Cr. striatula and males of Anochetus africanus, Hypoponera dulcis, Cr. kneri, and T. guineensis flew more frequently on rainy than dry dates. Nineteen species were caught more frequently on dry than on wet dates including most Camponotus, Tapinoma, and Technomyrmex spp. Fifteen species/morphospecies responded positively to increasing monthly rainfall, six to increasing monthly temperatures, and five to the interaction between these factors, with males of A. pellucidus, H. dulcis, and Cr. striatula caught more frequently in wetter, warmer months, and those of Camponotus olivieri and Technomyrmex andrei in drier, warmer ones.

Understanding adolescents’ diet and eating behaviours is crucial for informing public health strategies and policies, allowing interventions to be tailored effectively to enhance dietary patterns and improve overall health and quality of life. This study examined dietary patterns, dietary diversity, eating habits, food choice and the factors influencing these among adolescent girls in the Mion District, Ghana. A convergent parallel mixed-method design employing in-depth interviews (n = 30), two focus group discussions (n = 10) and survey data from 882 mother-daughter pairs was used. Key findings indicate that approximately 90% of girls achieved the minimum dietary diversity for women of reproductive age (MDD-W), with most consuming three meals daily. Staples were eaten daily, while fruits and unhealthy foods were less frequently eaten. Moderate/severe food insecurity was negatively associated with the MDD-W, whereas larger household size was positively correlated with the MDD-W. Older girls were less likely to eat breakfast, while household crop farm diversity increased the odds of eating supper on weekends. Moderate/severe food insecurity was inversely associated with intake of animal-sourced foods (ASFs), fruit, and unhealthy foods but positively correlated with vegetable consumption in the past month. Maternal non-literacy was linked to a lower intake of unhealthy foods, while specific ethnic backgrounds negatively influenced ASF intake. Wealthier households demonstrated higher consumption of staples. Qualitatively, health considerations, availability, taste, and cravings were major influencers of food choices. Food aversions were often tied to intolerance, fatigue from consuming the same foods repeatedly, and preferences related to taste and texture. These findings underscore the need for targeted nutritional interventions considering socio-economic and household factors to improve adolescent girls’ dietary habits and overall health.

This article critically examines the antislavery activism of Francis P. Fearon, an African activist based in late nineteenth-century Accra. His correspondence with the Aborigines’ Protection Society (APS) provides a profound insight into the dynamics of African abolitionism. By analysing a collection of letters housed in the APS archive, this study sheds light on Fearon’s commitment to abolishing slavery, driven by his principled opposition to family separation. The article underscores Fearon’s active involvement in a network of African antislavery advocates who sought to disrupt the institution of slavery through legal challenges and international advocacy. This research extends the growing literature on African abolitionism, which primarily focuses on the efforts of African missionaries, educated elites, and grassroots movements, adding a new dimension by exploring the operations of a dedicated network committed to the abolitionist cause.

Menarche and pubertal onset vary across populations but understanding age-at-menarche (AAM) and pubertal growth tempo is limited in low-income settings. Identifying factors influencing pubertal development is vital for creating targeted health and education programmes supporting adolescent girls’ well-being. Baseline data (n = 1045) from the Ten2Twenty-Ghana study were analysed to examine menarche attainment, pubertal development, AAM, and the associated factors among girls aged 10-17 years in the Mion district, Ghana. The data collection methods included anthropometry, body composition, haemoglobin status, a qualitative 24-hour dietary recall, a food frequency questionnaire, and a pubertal development score (PDS). Binary logistic and linear regression analyses were used to model odds ratios for menarche attainment and regression coefficients for AAM and PDS. About 19.9% of the girls had experienced menarche, with a mean AAM of 13.4 ± 1.5 years. Among post-menarche girls (n = 205/1045), 12.2% and 15.1% experienced early (AAM < 12 years) and late menarche (AAM < 15 years), respectively. The mean PDS was 1.8 ± 0.7 out of 4. Among the adolescent girls, 36.2% were prepubertal, 17.0% early –pubertal, 18.6% mid-pubertal, 27.9% late pubertal, and less than 1% were in the post-pubertal stage. An increase in fat mass (FM), fat-free mass (FFM), height-for-age-z-score (HAZ), and body mass index-for-age-z-score (BAZ) was observed with puberty progression, but a steep decline in HAZ was noticed for girls in late puberty, increasing again post-puberty. Being older (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 2.06, 95% C.I.: 1.83, 2.31), stunted (AOR= 0.20, 95% C.I.: 0.10, 0.40), thin (AOR = 0.30, 95% C.I.: 0.11, 0.80), and overweight/obese (AOR = 7.29, 95% C.I.: 2.60, 20.43) were the significant predictors of menarche attainment. Being older (β = 0.39, P < 0.0001), stunted (β= -0.92, P = 0.01), thin (β = 1.25, P = 0.01), and having a literate mother (β = -0.72, P = 0.03) were significantly associated with AMM. A higher HAZ, FM, FFM, age, and Konkomba ethnicity were positively associated with higher PDS. This study highlights the complexity of factors influencing menarche and pubertal development. These insights are essential for developing targeted health and educational programmes that address nutritional and socio-demographic disparities to promote adolescent girls’ well-being and healthy pubertal development.

This short report discusses the resources to be found in the Railway Archive in Sekondi-Takoradi, Ghana. This report is also the result of various exploratory missions, as part of a cooperative effort between the Ghana Railway Company, the Institute of African Studies of the University of Ghana, and the International Institute of Social History, the Netherlands. The archive under consideration is classified as an institutional archive which provides unique insights into the social and labor history of Ghana– then Gold Coast– with some connections to West Africa and Great Britain. The archives provide additional material to the resources in the national archives in Ghana, best known as the Public Records and Archives Administration Department (PRAAD).